Spindle drive for cotton pickers



Oct. 22, 1963 N Y 3,107,471

SPINDLE DRIVE FOR COTTON PICKERS Filed March 6. 1961 INVENTOR? b1 2) 4V- MAUR/(E A5. A #vosxry United States Patent 3,107,471 SPINDLE DRIVE FOR COTTON PICKERS Maurice E. Lindsay, Bakersfield, Califi, assignor, by

mesne assignments, to Spindle Specialty Co., Bakersfield, Caiifi, a corporation of California Filed Mar. 6, 1961, Ser. No. 93,530 2 Claims. (1. 56-42) This invention relates to a spindle drive for cotton pickers and is particularly concerned with the type of cotton picker wherein the spindles are frictionally driven by an arcuate drive rail, it being a general object of this invention to provid for long wear, quietness of operation and the elimination of friction losses, whereby the drive for the cotton picking spindles is made to be most efiicient.

Cotton picking machinery is in an advanced art, there being several kinds of cotton pickers in general use. One of the widely used pickers is known as the Rust picker and this particular machine is characterized by spindles that are rotated by means of engagement of a driv roller with a drive rail. The principle of operation is that the individual spindles are moved relative to and along the rail with the drive roller engaging said rail, said drive roller having rolling engagement with the rail with consequent rotating of the spindle. However, in order to project the spindles into the plants to be harvested from, the drive rails are arcuately formed and in practice are curved convexly so as to guide these spindles and so that they enter and then retract from the plants. In the past, these drive rails have been made entirely of metal, and more recently they have been made with rubber facings for engagement with the drive rollers. It is an engagement of said drive rollers with the arcuately curved drive rails, made entirely of metal or with rubber facings, with which the present invention is concerned.

Inspection of the usual arrangement of parts above referred to will prove that considerable wear takes place, mainly wear of the drive rails that guide and rotate the drive rollers. This wear is excessive and is found to excess in machines having both all metal drive rails and rubber faced drive rails. Said wear is accompanied by considerable noise during operation of the machine, and noticeable squeaking as portions of the drive rollers slip on the drive rails. Further, the quantity of power necessary to move the drive rollers over the drive rails is substantially excessive due to the frictional engagement and slippage of the ordinary cylindrically shaped drive rollers.

With the foregoing problem in mind, it is an object or" this invention to provide a highly improved drive roller for cotton picking spindles that are rotated by a stationary drive rail of arcuate configuration, in order to eliminate friction and drag that ordinarily occurs.

An object of this invention is to provide a drive roller for the spindle of a cotton picker of the character described and which roller operates with a minimum of wear.

Another object of this invention is to provide a drive roller for the spindle of a cotton picker of the character described and which operates quietly and with a minimum of noise.

It is still another object of this invention to provide a drive roller for the spindle of a cotton picker of the character described and which permits increased operational speeds as a result of reduction in vibration and a reduction in the generation of heat where the drive roller and drive rail frictionally engage.

The various objects and features of this invention will be fully understood from the following detailed description of the typical preferred form and application thereof,

throughout which description reference is made to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic plan view of the elements of a typical cotton picker and illustrates the general configuration of the drive rails that are involved and the relationship of the cotton picking spindles relative to said rails.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged detailed sectional View of a portion of one of the picking heads shown in the cotton picker of FIG. 1 and taken as indicated by line 22 on FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken as indicated by line 3--3 on FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged detailed view of the drive roller provided by the present invention and taken as indicated by line 4-4 on FIG. 2.

In FIG. 1 of the drawings I have diagrammatically indicated a typical cotton picking machine X of the type under consideration and that is adapted to be advanced over or through a field of ripened cotton. Generally, the principle of the machine X is to bring rotating picking spindles into contact with the opened bolls of cotton whereupon the cotton fibers are wound onto the spindles and are pulled from and out of the bolls. Dofier means is employed to remove or strip the fibers, with the seed, from the spindles, after which the fibers and seed are delivered by a suction fan to a basket that is emptied from time to time. The details of construction of the machine X are complex and vary widely in machines of different manufacture, but the drive roller Y that I provide can be applied to any of these machines that have a picking head Z employing an arcuately curved drive rail operating spindle rotating drive rollers that are common to and characterize the type of machine here under consideration.

The basic principle of the picking heads Z is to project rotating picking spindles .into the plants as the machine moves forwardly and to shift the spindles rearwardly relative to the machine synchronized with said forward movement, so that in relationship to the plants, the spindles have the eifect of standing still and spinning. In order to project said spindles S deeply into the plants, the drive rail R is arcuately and convexly curved in a horizontal plane, the radius of said curvature being approximately five feet. The spindle operation is carried on within a box or housing where the picked cotton and seed are stripped from the spindles to then be carried off by air suction to the storage basket of the machine.

In FIG. 1 of the drawings, I have shown a single row cotton picking machine X with two picking heads Z in tandem, the usual elements of construction being embodied in said machine. The machine X involves, generally, a frame carried by wheels preferably a pair of rear traction wheels 11 and a front steering wheel 12, a pair of picking heads Z, one operable at each side of a row of cotton plants, and all of the other necessary means including cotton transporting means to transfer :the pickings from the head Z to a basket and a prime mover to power the machine, etc. The 'said prime mover powers the traction wheels through a suitable transmission and a power-take-ofi drive operates the two heads Z and other working parts. it will be readily apparent that the machine X includes all of the necessary features of construction including operating controls and plant guides and shields, etc.

The panticular machine X illustrated in the drawings is a single row type machine carried on a tricycle type chassis. In this case, one traction wheel -11 follows behind one of the picking heads Z between adjacent rows of cotton plants. The steering wheel 12 precedes the other picking head Z between adjacent rows of cotton plants,

the wheel 12 being located opposite the first mentioned picking head Z and the second picking head Z being located opposite the first mentioned wheel 11. The second or other traction wheel 11 is located opposite the second picking head Z. With the arrangement shown the row of cotton plants being picked passes between the two longitudinally spaced and opposed picking heads Z.

The picking head Z involves a pair of longitudinally spaced drums 15 disposed on vertical and parallel axes. A continuous series of vertically disposed picking bars 16 is trained over and around said pair of drums 1 and hingedly linked together and adapted to be driven by the drums as a belt, or the like. One of the drums is powered to be rotated by the prime mover of the machine X, all to the end that the series of bars 16 moves longitu dinally between the drums 15.

The picking bars 16 are alike and each has a multiplicity of cotton picking spindles S rotatably supported thereon, on horizontal parallel axes and so that the spindles S project normal to the bar 16. In practice, sixteen equally spaced spindles S are journalled in the bar 16 on suitable anti-friction bearing portions 17. An active picking portion 18 of the spindle S projects forwardly and outwardly from the bar 16 while the drive roller R with which the present invention is concerned occurs rearwardly and inwardly from the bar 16 and between said bearing portions 17. Thus, there is a multiplicity of horizontally disposed rows of drive rollers R, each row comprising a continuous endless series.

As clearly indicated in the drawings, the drive rails R are each fixedly supported in a horizontal position, one parallel with the other, to extend intermediate the drums 15. As hereinabove pointed out, the rails are arcuately curved on a radius of approximately five feet, the ends of the rails terminating short of the peripheries of the drums 15, and with the outside periphery 21 of the rail tangent with the circumference of the two drums. The said drive rails are provided on the side of the picking head Z facing the cotton plants and guiding means is provided so as to maintain radial projection of the spindles S from the arcuate rail R. The type of cotton picker under consideration has a rail with a drive face 22 that is disposed and in a horizontal plane. Said face 22 can be a metal face or it is preferably a face presented by a facing of resilient depressible material, such as for example, rubber or the like. As shown, the face 22 is flat and horizontally disposed as it extends between the outer periphery 21 and the inner periphery 23 and it is co-extensive with the length of the rail R. The drive rollers are engaged therealong to be rotatively driven.

In accordance with the invention, the drive rollers Y have driving engagement with the face 22 that extends between the outer and inner peripheries 21 and 23 of the drive rail R. -It is significant that said rollers Y have [true rolling engagement with said face 22 at any and all points of contact between said outer and inner peripheries 21 and 23. Therefore, 1 provide a tapered or conical roller Y having a drive wall 30 larger at the outer periphery 21 than at the inner periphery 23 of the drive rail R. The wall 30 has longitudinally extending traction grooves, as shown. 'In practice, the projected vertex a of the cone-shaped roller Y intersects the center of the radius of the rail R, in which case a typical roller inch in diameter and inch in length is tapered a total of approximately .010 of an inch. Thus, there is a dilferential of motion between the outer and inner peripheries 21 and 23 which is compensated for and whereby the roller has true rolling engagement throughout its longitudinal extent and without slippage that otherwise Would result in frictional resistance and wear.

In carrying out the invention, the rollers Y are depressed into the resilient facing or face 22 in order to have full engagement of the lengths of the rollers Y with the width of the drive rail R. Thus, proper and full rolling contact is always maintained without resorting to inclination of the roller axes relative to the plane of the face 22. Further, any and all small misalignments are compensated for without affecting said true rolling engagement.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that I have provided a highly improved drive roller for engagement with a convexly curved and arcuate drive rail. With the drive roller hereinabove disclosed slippage and frictional rubbing is virtually eliminated and maximum wear is realized from the drive rollers and drive rails that are cooperatively engaged during operation of the cotton picker. Further, vibration, heat and noise are minimized, all resulting in the requirement of minimum power in order to operate the picking heads of the cotton picker.

Having described only a typical preferred form and application of my invention, I do not wish to be limited or restricted to the specific detail herein set forth, but Wish to reserve to myself any modifications or variations that may appear to those skilled in the art and fall within the scope of the following claims.

Having described by invention, I claim:

1. A spindle drive for cotton pickers of the character described and having an elongate cotton picking spindle rotated by a drive roller engaged with a drive rail, said drive rail being arcuately curved on a radius and with a drive face in a plane substantially parallel with the spindle and said drive roller being cone-shaped with its projected vertex coincidental with the center of said radius to have flat rolling engagement with said drive face of the rail.

2. A spindle drive for cotton pickers of the character described and having an elongate cotton picking spindle rotated by a drive roller engaged with a drive rail, said drive rail being arcuately curved on a radius and having a resilient face in a plane parallel with the axis of the roller, and said drive roller being cone-shaped with its projected vertex coincidental with the center of said radius to have fiat rolling engagement with said drive face of the rail.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,665,536 Rust Jan. 12, 1954 2,780,902 =Rust Feb. 12, 1957 2,815,635 Shannon Dec. 10, 1957 2,846,837 Bramblett Aug. 12, 1958 l. l l 

1. A SPINDLE DRIVE FOR COTTON PICKERS OF THE CHARACTER DESCRIBED AND HAVING AN ELONGATE COTTON PICKING SPINDLE ROTATED BY A DRIVE ROLLER ENGAGED WITH A DRIVE RAIL, SAID DRIVE RAIL BEING ARCUATELY CURVED ON A RADIUS AND WITH A DRIVE FACE IN A PLANE SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL WITH THE SPINDLE AND SAID DRIVE ROLLER BEING CONE-SHAPED WITH ITS PROJECTED VERTEX COINCIDENTAL WITH THE CENTER OF SAID RADIUS TO HAVE FLAT ROLLING ENGAGEMENT WITH SAID DRIVE FACE OF THE RAIL. 